4/5
Troy Sivan cements himself as one of the most important artists in the queer community with his newest LP.
Australian artist Troye Sivan began teasing his new album Something To Give Each Other with the release of the single “Rush,” a driving summer anthem of hedonism. The track would later be revealed to be the album’s opener, pulling listeners onto the dancefloor before they have the chance to back out.
“Rush” was released with an accompanying music video shot in Berlin. The video helps provide a taste of queer-club culture, painting the image of a sweaty dance floor under strobing lights, bodies colliding in flashes of darkness. It’s the sound of pure erotic bliss leaving as fast as it arrived, demanding you to savour every beat.
The subsequent track and the first deep cut of the album is the pulsing “What’s The Time Where You Are?” where Sivan yearns for his lover, feeling connected by the thought of what he may be doing from across the globe. The tempo is far less frantic than “Rush,” but it keeps a steady energy to keep listeners either bobbing their heads passively or dancing from wall to wall.
A striking highlight on the record is the track “One Of Your Girls,” where Sivan describes the situation of flirting with a guy who may identify as straight. In an interview with Apple Music, Sivan declared the track to be “[his] favourite he has ever worked on.” The seductive sound of the track reflects Sivan’s fascination with flirting with straight men, feeling in touch with his own femininity, and willingness to be one of his girls if it means gaining the affection he desires.
There is a sultry aura to this narrative, as Sivan knows he will eventually have his heart broken from rejection. It’s a tragic, authentic story many gay men endure, disconnecting from themselves to become objects in hopes of fulfilling the desires men may want. In the chorus, Sivan coos with the line “Give me a call if you ever get lonely / I’ll be like one of your girls or your homies,” reflecting his willingness to rush to men to please them but vanish if they want him gone. It’s a personal yet all too familiar struggle gay men find themselves cycling through.
The following track “In My Room” is a playful pop cut that Sivan likens to “kicking [his] feet on [his] bed using Tumblr on [his] first MacBook,” a description that is accurately matched by the song’s bouncy production with lyrics that feel like diary entries about one’s first crush.
The album’s mid-section slows down as Troye adds a pinch of soul to his polished pop rhythms on “Still Got It” and “Can’t Go Back, Baby.” With an electric organ and fuzzy drum machine, the two songs paint colours of passing city lights as the warm breeze teases your hair from a car window.
The visual groundwork of Something To Give Each Other is effectively captured in music videos and promotional work for the album. It’s a meticulously crafted aesthetic that shows Sivan’s dedication to making the album a visual experience as much as an auditory one.
The flow of the album’s throbbing beat is unfortunately interrupted by the single “Got Me Started,” which mixes a sample of Bag Raiders track “Shooting Stars.” Sivan rides the sample with a catchy hook, but the sample standing alone is poorly mixed and feels jarring to the ears. The final version of the song feels like a demo better suited for a music file titled “ideas?” never to be touched again.
Regardless, Sivan picks up in the album’s final tracks, rounding off on the same euphoric house beats with hints of 2010s trance EDM. The penultimate track, “Honey,” is a standout from the album’s slower B-side, encouraging listeners to dance once again.
A five-year gap between albums generates high expectations for an artist’s return, but Sivan returned with confidence and vision on Something To Give Each Other. His previous work felt sombre towards the topic of his sexuality, but with this LP, Sivan finally sounds like he has had room to breathe and accept every aspect of himself.